The very first European Team Championship was held in Vienna and Baden, a well-known spa nearby. 11 teams were registered for the preliminaries and of those the top four qualified. Hungary were missing (allegedly because they were not invited to take part in the preliminaries) which was a sort of sensation. Apart from them all the top European teams arrived. USSR were 100% favourites although Botvinnik did not play. Yugoslavia were expected to come second, while Czechoslovakia were favourites to take bronze. The Soviets took off in style murdering Czechoslovakia 8½-1½ and then West Germany 7½-2½. As they earned a comfortable advantage over the rest Yugoslavia lost to Czechoslovakia but still kept second position because they had achieved the best result vs USSR (4-6). The 6½-3½ win vs Czechoslovakia in round five sealed Yugoslavia's silver medals and the Czechs quite easily took the bronze beating West Germany on the sixth day. The last day created one of the biggest sensations ever: Yugoslavia defeated the Soviet Union. The Soviets were probably aiming at 10 quick draws but they miscalculated and lost on the two bottom boards. Still, they won by an impressive margin.

Team USSR were dominant all over the field winning with a 7-point advantage. Of the 10 best results at individual boards they won 8. Korchnoi's 5½/6 was the best result of the event. Among players from other teams, Rabar of Yugoslavia (3½/5) and Kozma (4/6 and an excellent win over Tal) must be mentioned. The Germans did pretty badly. Their only player with a plus score was IM Schmid (3/5).